Redcar Depot shortage

[Jimmi]

ADC need new deckers much much more than Ashington need 6 year old MMCs replacing... 

The allocation of the E400s is, much like the Blyth/Walkergate situation, nowhere near that strict either. All decker boards are E400, on paper there's literally no differentiation between the 14 plates, 64 plates, 15 plate, 17 plates and 72 plates in an allocation sense. The MMCs will be allocated to the Morpeth express routes ahead of the older E400s, which are more likely to find themselves on the 35, but that's about it.

I would like to see some new deckers at Durham County but I can't see it any time soon, think best we can hope for is yet more cascades from Northumbria.

To some extents, a decker order may be better for the Blyth to Newcastle routes and the like as they'd likely be used all day, every day whilst Durham County (subject to allocations on the day) generally don't put deckers out on an evening or on Sundays, certainly Darlington at least, X93/X94 is about the only decker service that does. I also question more and more if Belmont services really need as many deckers as they do and wonder if most journeys on the likes of the X46 could cope with Pulsar's, naturally still need deckers for the morning peak from Stanhope to Framwellgate Moor (X46 may be a case of being like the Langley Park 20's and X5/X15 where it has light loadings off peak but gets rammed with schools/peak traffic?)

[Storx]

I would like to see some new deckers at Durham County but I can't see it any time soon, think best we can hope for is yet more cascades from Northumbria.

To some extents, a decker order may be better for the Blyth to Newcastle routes and the like as they'd likely be used all day, every day whilst Durham County (subject to allocations on the day) generally don't put deckers out on an evening or on Sundays, certainly Darlington at least, X93/X94 is about the only decker service that does. I also question more and more if Belmont services really need as many deckers as they do and wonder if most journeys on the likes of the X46 could cope with Pulsar's, naturally still need deckers for the morning peak from Stanhope to Framwellgate Moor (X46 may be a case of being like the Langley Park 20's and X5/X15 where it has light loadings off peak but gets rammed with schools/peak traffic?)

Not think you's will get some ex London stock soon instead? There's going to be a lot of DB300's in particular going free and I'm not sure who'll want them as Arriva are the only people who really bought them on mass. 

Diesel buses are pretty much banned nowadays from new contracts down there give or take. 

Can't see anything coming from up here unless it's the 57 plate Enviros but not sure that's really much of an improvement tbh. Also can't see any orders for the Blyth Expresses the B&T railway could really cripple some routes if they don't do something to build trust as it's rock bottom around here lately.

I'm not sure there's need for 8 buses an hour from Blyth to Cramlington even if there was only a 15% reduction to say train - it's enough to be double to single tbh.

Or 14 buses from Cramlington to Newcastle mostly Deckers if there's few passengers coming from the Blyth end.

[Mark66t]

There should transfer the pulsars spare at Stockton which is a few to redcar as perm to be honest 1560.73 should be at Stockton as 95% it's them that is the problem mainly 1564

[Kuyoyo]

There should transfer the pulsars spare at Stockton which is a few to redcar as perm to be honest 1560.73 should be at Stockton as 95% it's them that is the problem mainly 1564

What spare Pulsars at Stockton? Stockton only have enough spares to cover their own PVR
As for the Streetlites, the original April 2020 cascade plan had Stockton gaining Redcar’s Pulsars in exchange for 1550-9 to standardise the depot’s fleets. Of course, this changes long before the first lockdown happened (and at one point before that, 4 of Redcar’s Pulsars were to be refurbished to Sapphire standard for the X4 to allow the majority of the Streetlites to be focused on the X3/X3A/64/64A boards.

[Ryland]

However redcars main issue atm does reflect the reliability of solos, deckers and pulsar.

[ross13]

Pulsar 1408 has returned to darlington from Redcar currently on 1/5/5a/x1

[tvd]

Am not surprised Redcar have issues with their buses. I was waiting for an X4 the other day, after a breakdown a replacement bus was sent out to Redcar Clock.
The doors on the new bus wouldn't close, so the driver and two other members of staff were kicking, pulling and tugging at the floor and the door itself, and probably made the fault much worse than what it was to start with. Needless to say, that bus also had to be sent back to the yard.
But their actions in front of a large number of passengers didn't look good.

[Andreos1]

Are Redcar running dupes on the X4? 
Seen pairs 2 or 3 times over the last couple of weeks. 
Appreciate there's works at various points on the route, but that can't be the sole reason they're running as they are. Surely?

[tyresmoke]

Are Redcar running dupes on the X4? 
Seen pairs 2 or 3 times over the last couple of weeks. 
Appreciate there's works at various points on the route, but that can't be the sole reason they're running as they are. Surely?

They don’t have enough drivers to run the normal service never mind running duplicates. Usually it’s because of the state of the fleet meaning buses are losing more and more time each trip. Temsas and Lythe Bank don’t go together well, and several Streetlites are ‘63 only’ too…


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[Andreos1]

They don’t have enough drivers to run the normal service never mind running duplicates. Usually it’s because of the state of the fleet meaning buses are losing more and more time each trip. Temsas and Lythe Bank don’t go together well, and several Streetlites are ‘63 only’ too…


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That was what crossed my mind to be honest. But with the number of times I've seen it, means it's probably happening other times too. 

A Pulsar and Streetlite were following each other around Quarry Roundabout on Thursday evening Boro bound. 
The time prior, would have been a weekend or two back and although I can't remember the allocation, there were two together southbound around Brotton.

[tyresmoke]

To be fair I was being a bit cheeky given Redcar are still helping Stockton out with drivers (and Whitby!).

Looking at the tracking 1433 was running about 15-20 late on the X4 on Thu evening though the X3s either side were both Temsas. It probably wasn’t helped by the X4 in front of it (1568) being pulled in Redcar due to being half hour late itself. That one restarted at Dormanstown heading back to Whitby.

This seems to be a regular occurrence due to various buses being in limp mode and the amount of hills on the X4 route.


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[tvd]

You'd think they'd have the sense to either fix those buses in limp mode, or at least allocate them to the 63 or 64 to avoid the hills. Full, busy buses struggling for time then having to crawl up every incline at walking speed only means it's inevitable they end up losing more and more time.

[Kuyoyo]

You'd think they'd have the sense to either fix those buses in limp mode, or at least allocate them to the 63 or 64 to avoid the hills.  Full, busy buses struggling for time then having to crawl up every incline at walking speed only means it's inevitable they end up losing more and more time.

BIB: I think you mean allocate them to 62s or 63s - 64s interwork with X3/X3A so plenty of hills involved in that cycle.

[Storx]

imo they need to get some buses which are actually appropriate for the route. Streetlite's aren't designed for long distance hill routes - it's no wonder that they're struggling.

The Volvo B8's which they have in Wales and Liverpool would be a good choice imo and actually have some power behind them. It's shocking how neglected Teesside is with Arriva investment wise, it'll be 10 year for a new bus next year.

The fact the 63 a flagship route is limping around with the horrid Temsa's is poor aswell.

[tyresmoke]

The root cause of the whole problem is of course the lack of investment in the fleet. The fact the X4 is struggling along with the poor Streetlites is down to the lack of double decks and Pulsars having to fill the gaps on the Scarboroughs. This in turn puts pressure on the rest of the fleet and then the 63 often loses buses to cover gaps elsewhere.


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[Andreos1]

To be fair I was being a bit cheeky given Redcar are still helping Stockton out with drivers (and Whitby!).

Looking at the tracking 1433 was running about 15-20 late on the X4 on Thu evening though the X3s either side were both Temsas. It probably wasn’t helped by the X4 in front of it (1568) being pulled in Redcar due to being half hour late itself. That one restarted at Dormanstown heading back to Whitby.

This seems to be a regular occurrence due to various buses being in limp mode and the amount of hills on the X4 route.


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Taking all of that in to account (plus the ridiculous number of lights that's been on the X4 route recently - I've counted temp lights at Marske, Saltburn, Brotton plus two lots at Loftus), surely an effective control would more than pay for itself?
It's a quick win. 

Longer term, allocating an adequate engineering budget could make a huge difference.
Assuming they're wanting to keep punters and attract new ones.

Talking about attracting punters, we were driving through Sandsend during the Easter break and passed a Whitby bound Streetlite who was unable to stop because he was full. 
Left crowds of people (presumably tourists and day trippers) waiting for the next one. No idea if the one in front had ran or not. 
Unsure if the one behind was running.

[morritt89]

imo they need to get some buses which are actually appropriate for the route. Streetlite's aren't designed for long distance hill routes - it's no wonder that they're struggling.

The Volvo B8's which they have in Wales and Liverpool would be a good choice imo and actually have some power behind them. It's shocking how neglected Teesside is with Arriva investment wise, it'll be 10 year for a new bus next year.

The fact the 63 a flagship route is limping around with the horrid Temsa's is poor aswell.

Streetlites aren't ideal for long distances I agree however when they are working properly, the hill climbing ability of a Streetlite is actually quite good (and that's from a drivers perspective).

[Unber43]

I always thought that Temsa were quite good buses...atleast in their looks.

[DeltaMan]

If they sent the X4 via Saltburn Road in Brotton and diverted the 5 via Laburnum Road, they'd be able to use Deckers (that they don't have), but that would surely help with loading during the summer?

Unless I am missing another low bridge somewhere.

It's a busy route, even in winter.

[tyresmoke]

If they sent the X4 via Saltburn Road in Brotton and diverted the 5 via Laburnum Road, they'd be able to use Deckers (that they don't have), but that would surely help with loading during the summer?

Unless I am missing another low bridge somewhere.

It's a busy route, even in winter.

Marske (14ft) also limits what you can use, but some DB300s from Northumbria would fit the bill if you missed most of Brotton out


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